Assignment Overview

In this guide, you will learn

• The types of assignments you can create in Spark
• How to select the best assignment type for your students
• How to connect students to their assignments
• How courses relate to assignments

Types of Assignments

There are three main types of assignments:

1. Assignments
   • A single, unique task assigned to a specific date.
   • Appears on the Student Portal on the assigned date and is due the same day.
2. Assignment Sets
   • Recurring assignments that repeat on a regular schedule.
   • Can span the entire term or have custom start and end dates.
   • When edited or deleted, you can modify/remove one instance or the entire set.
3. Goals
   • Long-term objectives designed for self-directed learning.
   • Includes a completion timeline and total number of units (e.g., pages, chapters).
   • Provides suggested daily unit targets but allows flexibility for students to adjust their pace.

Selecting the Assignment Type for Your Student

Whether you use an assignment, set, or goal for your student depends upon your students' needs and the type of curriculum and learning environment in your program.

Assignments/Assignment Sets:

• Ideal for teachers who prefer structured daily tasks for the entire term.
• Can easily be moved to new dates on the calendar.
• Sets can be created quickly and set schedules can be easily edited.
• Keeps a group of students moving at the same pace through a curriculum.

Goals:

• Best for students who need flexibility or prefer to work at their own pace.
• Useful for curriculum that doesn’t have regular, daily assignments.
• Teachers can quickly see students' progress on the assignment calendar.
• Often ideal for older students who need more ownership of their learning.

Remember, all assignment types can be used for the same student or classroom.

Connecting Students to Their Assignments

Student Portal:

• Students can view and submit assignments or goals on the portal.
• Instructions, documents, and links are accessible directly from the portal.
• See the help docs about portal use and access under the Student section to learn more.

Printing Assignments:

• If students don’t have portal access, assignments can be printed.
• Click Print at the top of the assignment page and customize your print options.
• See the help page titled Printing to learn more.

Courses and Assignments

Assignments can be created in two ways:

1. Directly on the Assignment Calendar:
   • Suitable for creating assignments as needed or one-off tasks (e.g., sports practice, chores).
   • Goals are also created here.
2. Using the Course Feature:
   • Ideal for planning assignments ahead of time for the entire term.
   • Courses can be reused for future terms or different students.
   • Once scheduled, course assignments automatically appear on the assignment calendar and can be edited there.

Learn more about the Course feature on the help pages under Courses.